A few years ago, I was at The Gamemaster's Realm in Aliquippa, PA when I stumbled across SEGA Pods. What an odd device! I knew it would make an interesting topic. SEGA Pods is kinda cool, but the novelty wears off pretty quick. Still, if you are a collector, I don't see these too often. It's worth checking out! Hope you enjoy.
Oh my God, I got one of these for my 10th birthday in 1995! I got so good at that game! I tried to tell people about it a long time ago, but no one was familiar with the game! Man I wish they were still available for purchase at a good price. I was a Sega fanatic.
I was working at the west cost Toys R Us flagship store when it came out. It was a hard sell since we had it only displayed in our electronics glass case with the chess sets, with no box or information card explaining anything about the game.I don't think we sold any of them.
this translates to "I really like your show, fresh and natural, mainly the heritage of video game culture, and you do not make-up, do not show off the rich, people feel very comfortable." just incase anybody was wondering
Gaming Historian, your videos are SO GOOD! Your honesty and ability to highlight the deep cuts is super entertaining XD PLUS the PBS-like voice-over at the end is classy instead of obnoxious! Wonderful channel! Just subbed after a few months of viewing 0:)
I could see this as a drinking game in gaming bars and cafes. This reminds me of a short lived musical instrument called an optical Theremin. It uses motion to activate sounds and alter the qualities of those sounds. The distance, direction, and shape of your hands determined the duration and types of notes you could create. I believe it had a memory function and could be used with foot pedals as well. Quite a bit more advanced than this toy. I had a chance to observe one in action when I briefly performed my fractal videos alongside an Atlanta-based musician who used the machine for his live electronic music.
New watcher.Im not playing any games nowdays but this channel was suprisingly good. Your voice is clear and calm, "good narrator voice.Watched almost every video.Good job man.Greetings from Finland.
Wow, you must have a ton of space to have room for this novelty. Good video as always! I hope to see one of your longer, documentary style videos again in 2018, those are always top notch!
Nice review! You're right, these pods were very obscure, I don't remember even seeing them advertised when I was a kid! I was pretty content with my Sega Genesis and probably wouldn't have liked this memory game anyway hehe
We had a SegaChannel and man was that thing ever awesome. All our friends went nuts for it, even if we couldn't save progress in anything (a nightmare for RPGs that we'd leave the system on to try beating) and we'd regularly stay up all night on the last day of the month to catch the new line-up at midnight. Did y'all ever have a sega channel? I even wrote them a letter one time, I think the characters name was somethin-somethin Raven. And I got a response. I wish I still had that letter. I'm just rambling for no reason whatsoever.
That royalty free music in the background is giving me flashbacks to "Twitch Presents" Yugioh marathon where they spammed giant ads non stop - it was the music they played during the adbreak if you had Prime (or adblock)
Can't wait for the tetris in the "core" video format you make from time to time, but having those shorter videos to fill in the gap between videos is always welcome!
listen we all need to forget that happened.... and that my parents refused to take me to Toys r us becasue they knew i would hound them for one... actually i need to thank them for that
See, this is one of the reasons I've subscribed because he gets right into the topic the moment you hit play. He doesn't bother with an 18 minute (sarcasm) long intro and at the end just simply says "That's it for this episode. Thanks for watching" and doesn't bombard us fans and viewers with "be sure to comment! Be sure to subscribe! Be sure to like this video! Click the link below! Click the bell icon!" Holy shit! We get it! Shut up! Other UA-camrs, take note on how well the Gaming Historian's videos are made. No bullshit intro and no begging on hands and knees for subscribers. His videos are beautifully presented and his commentary is very informative and well delivered.
The minute you mentioned the system reads two different ranges with the same hand movement, I knew it was destined to fail. I've never seen anything that tried that work, even modern motion sensors on Wii/Smartphones.
Oh no, not the TwitchPresents ad break music! That drumbeat was drilled into my head from the Digimon marathon last week! Why you gotta do this to me, man? XP
This reminds me of the Japanese arcade rhythm game Dance ManiaX. The idea is nearly the same, activate sensors in a pre-determined order based on what is displayed on screen, but in this case, by what is displayed via the built in lights. While this game might not be a grand slam, the Dance ManiaX game is well worth the time (if you can actually find it in an arcade these days).
Whoa. Great video, man. I had no idea this thing existed so you definitely taught me something cool today. I had a sega-channel, and a dreamcast and a few of its AWESOME little memory cards and a couple mini games to play on them. I hope I still have at least one of them, they were amazing little bitty gameboys.
Kinda funny that everything for kids made during when I was growing up during the 80s and early 90s was made to look "futuristic" and many items made now are going for a "retro" look.
Cool episode! I remember seeing these around back in the day but assumed it was just some kind of add-on for the Genesis or later the Pico. Interesting to see it's basically a motion-controlled Simon clone.
Nice to see the Gaming Historian step outside of the extremely focussed on topic of Nintendo and do a Sega review. Not much of a stretch as Sega is also covered by thousands of other UA-camrs but at least its a unique product they did so thumbs up.
Surprised with no mention of the Sega Activator, since that was essentially the PODS on a grander scale. They both used beams of light that could be broken at 2 different planes. Wonder if they had patented the technology and were making a small-scale test first or trying to make something to recoup the loss the Activator sales likely brought.
Didn't know this existed, interesting. Then again, I never saw Sega hardware anywhere in the 90s, maybe it wasn't that popular over here in Mexico. Great video!
When I hear the word SEGA all what comes to my mind is the Mega Drive! Maybe someone out there when he/she hear the word Sega all what comes in mind is PODS because that's all what they had back then!
When I first saw this, I thought I was going to be an attachment to the Sega Genesis or Saturn. It's interesting to know that Sega tried the toy market.
is that the 1st appearance of mrs. gaming historian? will she be like mrs. columbo and change appearance and eventually get her own failed spinoff youtube channel?
Great video as always Norm! I think if Sega had waited a little while longer to work out the kinks of the game and maybe offer it at a lower price point, they could've really been on to something
That's pretty interesting. I never heard of this myself. Now even as a big SEGA collector, I don't think it'd be worth getting after seeing your review of it. I do, however, have another "toy" that SEGA came out with around the same time as Pods - the Pico. Noting that it's more like a video game platform, complete with two Sonic games made for it, I think it's more fun to play the Pico over Pods, even though I like how SEGA experimented with motion-sensing technology just like they had been doing with other pieces of tech.
Hey, great video! Love your input. Just a suggestion, your audio seems to get scratchy at higher frequencies. Not sure if this is on your end or mine but might be worth looking into! Great work man, looking forward to future videos
I LOVE THIS! I have learned so much and this was an item I knew nothing about! And this was at a time when I was collecting all SEGA all the time when it was released. One more thing to add to my collection. :D
A few years ago, I was at The Gamemaster's Realm in Aliquippa, PA when I stumbled across SEGA Pods. What an odd device! I knew it would make an interesting topic. SEGA Pods is kinda cool, but the novelty wears off pretty quick. Still, if you are a collector, I don't see these too often. It's worth checking out! Hope you enjoy.
Gaming Historian I guess you can say it’s a pODD part of Sega’s History!
When can we expect the Tetris special?
Do a video about the History of Mario Tennis!!!!
Was that a snack fairy appearance?
Jordan Kelsey did I blink and miss the snack fairy?
Oh my God, I got one of these for my 10th birthday in 1995! I got so good at that game! I tried to tell people about it a long time ago, but no one was familiar with the game! Man I wish they were still available for purchase at a good price. I was a Sega fanatic.
Tatianna Hunt you must have been rich!
bobdigi88 No, I'm pretty sure it was on sale a year later. So it was on a discount. I also had a Sega 32x at the time...so there's that.
Tatianna Hunt I had never heard of it.
I remember when the Sega 32x and the Sega Nomad were on clearance in Toys R Us. I regret not buying the Nomad. I think it was selling for like $50.
Did yours have the same issue with the distance detection as his does? (was pro mode playable?). I wonder if his just got too old.
oh no he can't hear us he has Sega pods in
You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a babies toy!
Back to the Future?
@@KibaTheBarbarian -- Back to the Future II, future kids talking about the arcade game Wild Gunman!
@@MarkMcDaniel i know
@@KibaTheBarbarian -- Your question mark gave the wrong impression. Anyways.
🤣
My parents thought it be cool to buy me these instead of Mortal Kombat 2
Never seen them since.....
or both
Phantom Slider both lol
lol
Ouch, that must have sucked.
Why did you preform a "Fatality" on each of them?
I was working at the west cost Toys R Us flagship store when it came out. It was a hard sell since we had it only displayed in our electronics glass case with the chess sets, with no box or information card explaining anything about the game.I don't think we sold any of them.
sage spirtos nice info!
Derek: “On this show, we celebrate the weird and unnecessary...”
Norman: “Is it a must-have? Not at all.”
Never heard of this. Good review.
I had this piece of junk lol
Short, to the point. Good comment.
很喜欢你的节目，清新自然，主要是传承电子游戏文化，而且你不化妆，不炫富，让人感觉很舒服。
this translates to "I really like your show, fresh and natural, mainly the heritage of video game culture, and you do not make-up, do not show off the rich, people feel very comfortable." just incase anybody was wondering
Imagine using the Wii mote sensor for the volume
or the a button
Maybe the d pad
*MOTION CONTROOOOLS!*
Gaming Historian, your videos are SO GOOD! Your honesty and ability to highlight the deep cuts is super entertaining XD PLUS the PBS-like voice-over at the end is classy instead of obnoxious! Wonderful channel! Just subbed after a few months of viewing 0:)
I love your videos. As someone who loves all things games especially history and you’re a great person to show very well made and insanely accurate
I love you, Gaming Historian. You're so happy about what you do, and you're so good at it. Thank you for making videos.
I could see this as a drinking game in gaming bars and cafes. This reminds me of a short lived musical instrument called an optical Theremin. It uses motion to activate sounds and alter the qualities of those sounds. The distance, direction, and shape of your hands determined the duration and types of notes you could create. I believe it had a memory function and could be used with foot pedals as well. Quite a bit more advanced than this toy.
I had a chance to observe one in action when I briefly performed my fractal videos alongside an Atlanta-based musician who used the machine for his live electronic music.
I've really enjoyed going through your videos and seeing the amazing progress you've made. I really enjoy every new video!
New watcher.Im not playing any games nowdays but this channel was suprisingly good. Your voice is clear and calm, "good narrator voice.Watched almost every video.Good job man.Greetings from Finland.
Wow, you must have a ton of space to have room for this novelty.
Good video as always! I hope to see one of your longer, documentary style videos again in 2018, those are always top notch!
You guys remember Electroplankton for the DS?
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Awesome Odd ware Clint
Where's the brown sofa?
And no jab at Peter Molyneux...
underrated comments xD
So that's where I remember this thing from.
3:30 "Practice mode"
Nice review! You're right, these pods were very obscure, I don't remember even seeing them advertised when I was a kid! I was pretty content with my Sega Genesis and probably wouldn't have liked this memory game anyway hehe
We had a SegaChannel and man was that thing ever awesome. All our friends went nuts for it, even if we couldn't save progress in anything (a nightmare for RPGs that we'd leave the system on to try beating) and we'd regularly stay up all night on the last day of the month to catch the new line-up at midnight. Did y'all ever have a sega channel?
I even wrote them a letter one time, I think the characters name was somethin-somethin Raven. And I got a response. I wish I still had that letter.
I'm just rambling for no reason whatsoever.
That royalty free music in the background is giving me flashbacks to "Twitch Presents" Yugioh marathon where they spammed giant ads non stop - it was the music they played during the adbreak if you had Prime (or adblock)
Can't wait for the tetris in the "core" video format you make from time to time, but having those shorter videos to fill in the gap between videos is always welcome!
I was thinking maybe Sega should have use this for motion control in Genesis games, but then I remembered the Activator... :P
listen we all need to forget that happened.... and that my parents refused to take me to Toys r us becasue they knew i would hound them for one... actually i need to thank them for that
This music is amazing
Sega does what Ninten...did as well, albeit Nintendid did so before they made video games.
What was Nintendo's Simon knockoff?
Actually, that was Mattel.
I feel your paint (Is that a typo?)
Nintendid 😂
I prefer the statement, "Nintendo is what Genesisn't!"
See, this is one of the reasons I've subscribed because he gets right into the topic the moment you hit play. He doesn't bother with an 18 minute (sarcasm) long intro and at the end just simply says "That's it for this episode. Thanks for watching" and doesn't bombard us fans and viewers with "be sure to comment! Be sure to subscribe! Be sure to like this video! Click the link below! Click the bell icon!" Holy shit! We get it! Shut up! Other UA-camrs, take note on how well the Gaming Historian's videos are made. No bullshit intro and no begging on hands and knees for subscribers. His videos are beautifully presented and his commentary is very informative and well delivered.
Always a great day when a new episode from Gaming Historian goes live. Thanks for the video and your research! 🌮
The minute you mentioned the system reads two different ranges with the same hand movement, I knew it was destined to fail. I've never seen anything that tried that work, even modern motion sensors on Wii/Smartphones.
I see a new GH video, I click. Best game history channel on YT.
Oh no, not the TwitchPresents ad break music! That drumbeat was drilled into my head from the Digimon marathon last week! Why you gotta do this to me, man? XP
McJohnson It's a marathon, not a race. We'll be right back
Holy shit that's where I know it from. Yugioh just started playing in my head
Best part of my Friday lunches. Keep it up Norman!
Soon your going to be over a million and I can't think of a guy that deserves it as much as you do. Great work!
Man, I really like this channel!
This reminds me of the Japanese arcade rhythm game Dance ManiaX. The idea is nearly the same, activate sensors in a pre-determined order based on what is displayed on screen, but in this case, by what is displayed via the built in lights. While this game might not be a grand slam, the Dance ManiaX game is well worth the time (if you can actually find it in an arcade these days).
Whoa. Great video, man. I had no idea this thing existed so you definitely taught me something cool today. I had a sega-channel, and a dreamcast and a few of its AWESOME little memory cards and a couple mini games to play on them. I hope I still have at least one of them, they were amazing little bitty gameboys.
I'm a hardcore Sega fan I must have it now
Love your work man, you showcase systems I've never seen and I thought I've seen 'em all. Keep it up.
I love your new channel company man!
Kinda funny that everything for kids made during when I was growing up during the 80s and early 90s was made to look "futuristic" and many items made now are going for a "retro" look.
When I see a new Gaming Historian's Video. I CLICK!
If there's one thing I want to see implemented as a concept on its own, it's Add A Beat. The idea sounds competitive enough to be enjoyable.
The term you are possibly searching for is retro futurism.
Cool episode! I remember seeing these around back in the day but assumed it was just some kind of add-on for the Genesis or later the Pico. Interesting to see it's basically a motion-controlled Simon clone.
Nice to see the Gaming Historian step outside of the extremely focussed on topic of Nintendo and do a Sega review. Not much of a stretch as Sega is also covered by thousands of other UA-camrs but at least its a unique product they did so thumbs up.
Wow!I learn something new every time I see a new video from this great channel.
What about the Sega Pico?
The favorite console of a friend of mine 😹
I had one. Nice PFP fellow canyoner
Your quality always astounds me
New Gaming Historian video. My body is so ready.
Never saw that one before. Thanks for the content Norm. Great video.
DiGiTyDarKMaN Rerez did a video on it a while back.
Surprised with no mention of the Sega Activator, since that was essentially the PODS on a grander scale. They both used beams of light that could be broken at 2 different planes. Wonder if they had patented the technology and were making a small-scale test first or trying to make something to recoup the loss the Activator sales likely brought.
I'm glad that your back I love your videos
Nice videos as always historian, never heard of this until now.
Didn't know this existed, interesting. Then again, I never saw Sega hardware anywhere in the 90s, maybe it wasn't that popular over here in Mexico. Great video!
"Is it a must have? Not at all" LMFAO.
When I hear the word SEGA all what comes to my mind is the Mega Drive!
Maybe someone out there when he/she hear the word Sega all what comes in mind is PODS because that's all what they had back then!
Was just watching one of your videos! Nice surprise!
When I first saw this, I thought I was going to be an attachment to the Sega Genesis or Saturn. It's interesting to know that Sega tried the toy market.
About time my meng. Keep it up at least 1 videos a week
Norm: Game 6, called Speedo... 😅 Pat the NES Punk comes into your room wearing a speedo, takes it off, and flings it on your face like a rubber band.
Awesome video. Loved the background music! Hope youre doing better...missed you at RetroGameCon!
For some unexplained reason I really want to watch Total Recall now.
Always a good day when Gaming Historian uploads.
is that the 1st appearance of mrs. gaming historian? will she be like mrs. columbo and change appearance and eventually get her own failed spinoff youtube channel?
Gaming Herstorian
who cares???
He showed a picture of her in another video, I think it was the history of gaming historian one
Her first appearance in Gaming History is actually in the History of Gaming Historian episode, though not in person.
Zack Schilling Internet Herstorian
I got the pods from my local retro gaming store, I need to replace the bulbs, but mine still works.
This was pretty cool! It kind of reminds me of the bop it toy I grew up with! Nice video and information! Sega pods what an interesting idea!
I remember the Pods from the magazines. Wow! I'm still holding out for the Tetris documentary. It's gonna be the best one yet!
Still the best nostalgia youtuber.
The retro game store in my city has three of these, packaged in the original box, and collecting dust.
Thanks so much for having your wife on the show Norman she just looks amazing!
Anyone knows what the background music playing at 1:30 ???
Great video as always Norm! I think if Sega had waited a little while longer to work out the kinks of the game and maybe offer it at a lower price point, they could've really been on to something
Nice review as always Norm!
Music is giving me bad flashbacks to the YuGiOh marathon on Twitch.
That's pretty interesting. I never heard of this myself. Now even as a big SEGA collector, I don't think it'd be worth getting after seeing your review of it. I do, however, have another "toy" that SEGA came out with around the same time as Pods - the Pico. Noting that it's more like a video game platform, complete with two Sonic games made for it, I think it's more fun to play the Pico over Pods, even though I like how SEGA experimented with motion-sensing technology just like they had been doing with other pieces of tech.
The Gaming Historian has done it again. Great work man. 👍🏻
Awesome review!
True
SupaPixelGirl Cute alert. SupaPixel you're the bomb girl. That EA video was on point.
Hey! It's you. I usually see you in the Game Grumps comment section.
Hey, great video! Love your input. Just a suggestion, your audio seems to get scratchy at higher frequencies. Not sure if this is on your end or mine but might be worth looking into! Great work man, looking forward to future videos
>Sees new video
>Clicks on it faster than Sonic
that bkg in the intro was amazing
I think I saw one of these in the thrift store recently. I was a Genesis kid, but don't remember this at all.
love your channel
Do a video of the history of Mario Tennis, please!
I doubt there's much history there...
"Hey, you wanna make a tennis game starring Mario characters?"
"Sure."
"Cool."
>makes game
I think it was more of a Smash Bros kind of situation. They made the game first, and then added Mario characters to sell.
Lets make a Buddy for Wario what the name?
Please do an episode on Crystalis for the NES/GBC!!
Great video as always!
Great episode!
I LOVE THIS! I have learned so much and this was an item I knew nothing about! And this was at a time when I was collecting all SEGA all the time when it was released. One more thing to add to my collection. :D
Hey Norman love your channel very informative. Since your doing history on Videogame companies can you do a video on the SEGA PICO?
The motion capture still seems to be working better than any public bathroom tab.
I have never heard of this. Thanks Norm!
Great video as always. Waiting for the Tetris episode.
wow never knew about this device till now. great vid.
"It's a marathon, not a sprint.
We'll be right back, we promise."
Never heard of it back then but I never was a big Sega fan. Still great history.
Never forget playing this at my buddy's house.
Now I understand where the Existence movie inspiration comes from
Got one of these a few years ago in the box, was gonna circuit bend it. Currently in storage.
History on light guns would be great.
I would love an in depth history of this
Thanks for this! Despite playing games as far back as the Atari 2600, I never seen this product. I guess this video shows why.
I wonder what sensors it uses, and whether they degraded with time making Pro not work.